


Subverting Expectations

by Flarenwrath



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen, Injury Recovery, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:46:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17907992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flarenwrath/pseuds/Flarenwrath
Summary: Anduin is recovering from the Divine Bell incident at the Tavern in the mists, but he is trying to heal more than just physical injuries. He is also trying to overcome his lingering fear of dragons in the most direct way possible.





	Subverting Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the prompt "Firsts" for Wranduin week 2019!  
> Anduin's first crush~

Anduin’s choice to meet with Wrathion had been a deliberate one. 

His body had been broken after his altercation with Garrosh, but the Divine Bell shattering his bones was not the only injury he had suffered at the orc’s hands. Anduin had been so sure at the time that with good intentions alone he would have been able to not only persuade Garrosh to cease his warmongering against the Alliance but to also help prevent further damage to Pandaria and her people. 

But he was wrong, and he had paid for it. 

In that one moment when Garrosh had unexpectedly turned on him, Anduin’s faith and been shaken. And with it doubt and fear were allowed to take root in his chest. In fact, it was the Pandaren Aysa, who first warned him of it- that perhaps more than just his body would need to heal if he wished to regain his balance- and that Anduin must take on the heavy challenge of healing his spirit. 

After many hours pondering how he would even begin to go about such a task, Anduin came to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to face his prejudices head on and allow new experiences to be the catalyst that would subvert whatever buried fears he had towards the unknown.

Which is why, despite the many protests of his father, he had insisted that his recovery would be taking place at the Tavern in the Mists. After all, what could be more frightening than facing another Black Dragon alone after his “misadventure” with the Broodmother Onyxia? 

At least that is what he had told Varian, tongue in cheek, before he departed Krasarang Wilds. 

However, if he were being completely truthful about the matter, Anduin still occasionally suffered from hazy nightmares about the dragon’s voracious children hunting after his small and terrified self, their shrill whelpling shrieks echoing off the cave walls as he hid for his young life in a deadly game of hide and seek… 

It was the first time in his life he had known what true fear was and it had left its black mark on him. Yet, he feared, if he did not seize this opportunity to heal the damage now, it would develop into a scar that could never be erased. 

Luckily for him the drake currently taking roost in Pandaria was nothing like Onyxia. Where she was cold and cunning, this boy was electric and passionate. In fact, when Anduin had first arrived in the Tavern, the drake ‘Wrathion’ greeted him quite enthusiastically. Whether that was because he was bored of his blacktalons being his only consistent company and was eager at the idea of a new face or because he truly was excited by Anduin personally, he wasn’t sure. But based on the relieved looks from his guards after his arrival, he had hoped it was the former. But no matter the reason the warm reception was an immediate relief. 

And perhaps it was because he and Wrathion were both young adults (of their respective species), but Wrathion seemed to be genuinely fascinated by him and showed real interest in hearing all of Anduin’s opinions on any given subject.

The drake’s latest musing was one he had been considering to himself as well-

“Peace is but a facade, my dear prince.” Wrathion lectured as he paced across the inn’s wooden floors, almost circling around Anduin’s resting spot. “If you merely peel back this world’s outer layers, you will find that chaos is lying dormant, waiting to be unleashed!” 

The dragon turned to face him, his inhuman red eyes flashing with pride at his latest analysis as he gave Anduin a knowing smirk. “You understand, of course.”

Anduin didn’t, but he smiled and nodded at him none the less before he sipped at his tea. Wrathion’s musings may have bordered on fanatical rambling at times, but the boy was always so clearly earnest about them that he couldn’t help but take part.

“You talk about peace as though it is an object,” Anduin retorted thoughtfully, feeling only a secret sense of pleasure when Wrathion’s face dropped from one of the gloating victor to one of mild annoyance at being disagreed with. “Peace is an action. It requires that all parties agree to participate so as to ensure its continued survival. While I agree that all it takes is one misstep for peace to be shattered, it does not inherently mean that peace is an unobtainable construct.”

Wrathion’s pacing stopped in front of him and the dragon snorted his frustration, exhaling thin tendrils of smoke through his nose. 

“You only think that way because you have not seen the world the way I have.” The way Wrathion emphasized _I_ as though he were privy to some divine knowledge and not simply some young drake made Anduin quickly take another sip of tea to drown out his own chuckling at the thought. 

“Think for a moment about the Sha, my prince.” Wrathion continued, as he gestured with wild animations to better illustrate his point, “They are one with this land, threatening at every moment to tear it apart! The Pandaren have tried, through _action-_ “, his voice dropped to an unnatural pitch, clearly in a mocking imitation of Anduin’s own, “-and yet all it took was a spark to set this kindling ablaze!” 

Wrathion’s lip then twitched into another smirk, so sure that this time he had put Anduin in an argumentative position to where there was no possible chance of rebuttal.

Anduin’s leg twinged in pain at being in one position for too long and he shifted slightly to ease its discomfort. It was best to make himself comfortable now, as experience told him he was about to enter into another day long debate with Wrathion on this subject until either Wrathion grew bored or won. 

But, it was in moments like this when Anduin could see the faint likeness between Wrathion and the once Lady Prestor. Both dragons had a way of making you almost want to believe them…

Almost.

He continued in a calm voice, not taking Wrathion’s bait towards the escalation of emotions. “I would say that the difference here is that the Sha are not natural. They are a trial for those who wish to maintain peace, but not a guaranteed final state. If we assume that the Horde and the Alliance actually worked together to find balance, as the Celestials have so plainly suggested, peace in Pandaria could once again be restored.”

Anduin’s response only seemed to frustrate the dragon more as Wrathion crossed his arms across his chest and stomped on the ground in a very childlike manner, before fixing his bright eyes on the young prince with a scowl. “You are only looking at the matter through the eyes of a mortal, my prince! You must try to view things from a higher perspective: one that does not care about races or factions, but from the very nature of existence!”

Anduin’s baffled thoughts must have translated to his face as Wrathion quickly crossed the short distance between the two of them and beckoned at Anduin with his clawed hands. “Get up, then. If you don’t understand I will show you something that will force your eyes open!”

If Wrathion had said those words to him on his first day at the Tavern, he may have misunderstood them to be a threat, but now he only saw it for what it was – an impatient youth who hated losing. And Anduin couldn’t help but chuckle at him for it. “I would love to, Wrathion. But I cant.”

Wrathion’s nose wrinkled and his lips pursed into something that bordered on a pout. “Well why not?” It was clearly meant as a question, but the dragon spoke it as a demand.

Anduin felt the air grow stifled around him. 

It wasn’t the first time that Wrathion had been disconnected from “human” problems, but it was the first time that it had been directed at his injury. 

“Wrathion…” he trailed off, unsure of how to address the situation bluntly without resurrecting the lingering feelings of worthlessness that would sometimes plague him when he thought about how serious his injury was. After all it was not that long ago when the royal doctor gave him the news that there would be a strong chance he may never walk again.

But, as expected, Wrathion didn’t seem to pick up on any of the emotional cues he was giving. The dragon only tilted his head in the same way he had seen spiny lizards do when they encountered something new.

Anduin clenched his jaw and steeled himself before ripping it off like a bandage. “My leg doesn’t work. I can’t walk anywhere with you.”

Wrathion’s response was to blink once at him before answering far too coolly, “Oh, is that all?”

Anduin didn’t understand at first, but when Wrathion knelt in one smooth motion and offered his arm for Anduin to grasp onto, it clicked together. And while Anduin slowly fought his way to standing, Wrathion was surprisingly patient about the whole matter, letting the prince grab at and pull on his clothes in a way that Anduin certainly thought would have been unacceptable to the dragon’s vanity.

When the two of them had finally made it to standing, Anduin had one arm wrapped around Wrathion’s shoulder and the other gripping onto his cane tightly, while in return Wrathion had one arm around Anduin’s lower back and holding him close. The dragon had held onto him so tightly and with such strength that Anduin was sure he could have simply picked him up and carried him if he had so chosen.

“Are you ready now?” Wrathion quipped with only mild annoyance at being delayed, as he looked over at Anduin expectantly.

Anduin could only nod, as he felt an unfamiliar heat ignite in his chest. Wrathion was far closer than he would prefer to have a black dragon, and at this close he could clearly make out the matte black scales that poorly hid as freckles on his cheeks, he could smell the sulfur and ash on his skin, and he could clearly make out the slit pupils in his glowing red eyes… and it was making him nervous.

The walk itself was further than Anduin would have preferred but Wrathion was surprisingly mindful of his limitations, taking care to stop every so often as he allowed Anduin to rest against him. In those moments of pause between flights on the stone hewn staircase as Anduin caught his breath and waited for the ache in his leg to dull, the tension in his chest only compounded. His heart was racing so fast and his stomach twisted into so many knots, that he had hardly paid any attention to the route Wrathion had led him down, instead focused solely on parsing through what must be his internalized fears of dragons and how he could overcome them.

“Here we are, my prince!” Wrathion chimed as they arrived at what looked to be a viewing platform of some kind. His voice cut through Anduin’s internal strife and into the present, which only shined light on the fact that the two of them had been walking together in complete silence for much longer than Anduin had thought… the realization of which only served to fuel the burning heat of nerves in him.

Wrathion helped Anduin sit on the ledge of the stone balcony, taking surprising care to ensure he was comfortable before he resumed the pacing he had done in the inn, acting as though there was not a moment lapse in the argument. 

“As I was saying- you simply need to view the nature of things from a higher perspective!” the dragon gestured to the land in front of them as emphasis. It took Anduin a woefully long minute for him to even remember what they had been debating as he forced himself to look away from Wrathion and to their surroundings.

They were on a small peak that overlooked a river that bordered the Jade Forest. Small mountains that almost resembled pillars of stone were dotted along the horizon as the ever present mist coiled around them like a serpent, and as he looked closer he could make out a dense bamboo forest that partially concealed what must be a road winding its way over to the bridge that connected the two lands together.

Anduin turned back to Wrathion and raised a brow. If this was to show him some form of argument against peace, he didn’t understand why he would be brought someplace so peaceful.

Wrathion seemed to realize Anduin’s thoughts and cut him off before he even had the chance to open his mouth. “This is the truth of the world in its purest fashion!” He announced assuredly as he turned dramatically to face the view. “The surface of it can easily fool you into thinking that the world is predisposed to peace, but all one needs to do is look closer to see its real nature.” 

He narrowed his eyes in focus before he pointed to a small fishing dock along the river. “Take that Murky Bank, for example.” 

Anduin had to squint to try and make out any detail, but from what he could see were a few turtles on the shore and a Hozen sitting at the end of a dock with its fishing line in the water. He was about to confess that he still wasn’t understanding what Wrathion was trying to explain, before the dragon continued.

“Not only is that Hozen killing the very fish that will keep those turtles alive, but that dock has recently been claimed by the Alliance.” Anduin suspected Wrathion pointed that fact out explicitly to upset him, “They have snipers in an encampment on a ridge just there-“ he gestured to a small ridge in the mountain that perfectly overlooked the dock. 

“Just as it may not be the intention the Hozen to starve those turtles, it is certainly not its intention to provoke attack. And yet, those Alliance troops will need to kill that Hozen in order to secure their own food supply.” Wrathion turned then to face Anduin, forcing Anduin to pull his gaze away from the little dock. “If, as you’ve said, peace is an action, then for you to facilitate the peaceful action of allowing that Hozen to live, you would be sentencing your own men to a slow but sure starvation.”

Anduin pressed his lips together in annoyance, feeling a _subtle_ hint that Wrathion was being obtuse on purpose just to have the upper hand.

Wrathion, in turn, gave him a pleased smirk as he sat down on the ledge next to him. “And what choice would you make then, my prince?”

The two of them locked eyes for a long moment in silence. The only sound being the faint rushing of water of an obscured waterfall and the twittering of birds in the tree nearby. It was the final move in the little game of their debate, and Anduin was going to be the one to finish it.

“You do realize that we stock tofu in our rations, right?” He asked bluntly.

Wrathion blinked once at Anduin in shock before a wave of embarrassment overcame him. The boy’s normally dark skin now deepened by a flustered blush.

“Of course, I knew that!” Wrathion insisted far too quickly as he hastily looked away from Anduin at anything that wasn’t the Prince’s amused smile. However, the action only further confirmed to him that the boy had in fact _not_ considered that other races don’t eat like dragons.

He had tried to keep the laughter from spilling out, for the sake of Wrathion’s fragile pride, but he couldn’t help himself. All of that grandiosity culminating into one very embarrassed dragon, quietly picking at his nails and acting like he didn’t just do something so silly as to forget vegetables were a thing.

Anduin’s laughter only further flustered Wrathion and the drake scowled before he playfully smacked at the prince’s good leg. The touch was unexpected and Anduin felt that same nerves budding inside his chest again, causing a rush of heat to flow through him. This time, however, the cause of it was much clearer.

He may have a crush.


End file.
